See where your favorite NASCAR Cup Series driver will pit for the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
RELATED: Starting lineup | Weekend schedule | At-track photos
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Kyle Busch said Saturday that he still hadn’t spoken with Corey LaJoie after their incident last weekend at Pocono Raceway, reiterating what he’d mentioned the day before in an appearance with ESPN’s Pat McAfee. That same appearance included a warning of “payback is coming,” suggesting that talk alone may not mend those torn fences.
The incident that wiped out Busch’s No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, prolonging one of the worst stretches of his decorated NASCAR Cup Series career, was top of mind among the topics for the two-time champion’s arrival at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend. He is due to make his 700th Cup Series start in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), but that milestone is tempered by a sharp sag in the standings — a stretch that’s diminished his bid for a playoff spot.
LaJoie was at the center of Saturday’s pre-race talking points, and Busch said on ESPN that he wasn’t buying his explanations.
RELATED: Sunday’s starting lineup | At-track photos: Indy
Busch’s career began during a time when veterans would occasionally pull an overly rambunctious driver aside for consultation, but that increasingly feels like a bygone era of self-policing. Asked if a on-track response was the answer, Busch was noncommittal.
“No, I don’t feel like I’m being backed in a corner where I have to respond,” Busch said. “Just, racing’s racing and if stuff happens, stuff happens.”
Instead of a conversation with LaJoie, Busch picked up on the suggestion that the incident could be a teaching moment for his 9-year-old son, Brexton, an aspiring racer in the youth circuits.
“I don’t know. I guess, just showing him and telling him about things that are OK in instances in which when you’re racing together, you’re going to have close quarters, you’re going to have contact, things like that,” Busch said. “But when you have instances in which you get drove over, then those are moments that aren’t acceptable as a race driver, whether you’re doing or receiving.”
Busch said that a friendly relationship with McAfee provided a comfort zone on the free-wheeling show. It also helped cool the temperature of the interview’s hot seat. “He could have gotten a lot further and probably been a lot worse in his questions and his prodding,” Busch said, “but we’ve got good respect for one another, so I felt like it was good and fair.”
MORE: Busch on McAfee: ‘Payback’s coming’
LaJoie responded after his qualifying lap Saturday, telling The Athletic that Busch should answer his phone to hear his side, rather than go on a popular talk show to air his grievances. He also said that his perception of the incident did change after seeing replays of their contact. “The moral of the story at Pocono was I crashed him bigger than s—, but it wasn’t intentional,” LaJoie told Jeff Gluck. “The original story that I saw out of the windshield and was told from (crew chief Ryan) Sparks was my perception. After I got a chance to look at the replay and saw the in-car cameras, I saw what happened — but it never was intentional in the first place and that remains the case. So for him to say I changed my story ‘four times’ and I’m a liar pisses me off.”
Beside the conflict, there’s the matter of Busch’s performance and how to boost it within the Childress-owned organization. Busch has dipped to 18th in the Cup Series standings, fading to 102 points behind the provisional elimination line to make the 16-driver postseason. His teammate, Austin Dillon, ranks 32nd.
Andy Petree announced his retirement as an RCR competition executive on June 25, a move that shifted Keith Rodden to an interim competition director role. Busch said two weeks ago in Chicago that he wasn’t pushing for further changes, but that he’d had discussions with his team owner about several specific areas where the organization could improve. Saturday, Busch indicated that RCR had missed out on one recent competition hire, but that he’d been kept in the loop about next steps.
“It would be kind of nice to know, I guess, and they have been bringing me into the fold of some of the names and whatnot that they’re looking at,” Busch said. “But honestly, besides the people that I’ve worked with before, I don’t know anything about the people that I’ve never worked with before, you know. So that’s kind of hard to judge their character, their work ethic, their genius level and all that.”
Busch is scheduled to start 34th in the 39-car field for Sunday’s 400-miler, putting a steep climb in front of him to reach a third Brickyard crown to match his back-to-back wins here in 2015-16 with Joe Gibbs Racing. He’s at least relishing the return to Indy’s traditional 2.5-mile configuration after three years of using the combined oval-road course layout, and hoping to make the most of his milestone start.
“I mean, the Brickyard’s great,” said Busch, who will become just the 20th driver to reach 700 Cup Series appearance. “This is what we all wanted to have here and be here and doing is racing the oval, but the road course is what we had for the last few years, but now we’re back on the oval. So I think everybody’s gotten a little bit more excitement around that, and hopefully the fans show their excitement around that and know if they’ll come out and support it. But other than that, trying to go for a win. We’ve got a long way to go, and we’ll see what happens.”
It’s been a welcoming sight to have Cup Series cars back on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval this weekend. All 39 teams entered the race knowing the importance of track position before cars getting on track this weekend.
Tyler Reddick has done it better than everybody this weekend, winning his second pole of the season. In the tightest regular season championship battle of all time, the top five drivers in points filled the top five in qualifying for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
RELATED: Set your Fantasy Live lineups
Dustin Albino’s race-day lineup:
Starter 1: Tyler Reddick
Starter 2: William Byron
Starter 3: Chase Elliott
Starter 4: Ryan Blaney
Starter 5: Joey Logano
Garage pick: Brad Keselowski
NEXT IN LINE: Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell
RISING: This feels like a Reddick weekend. Multiple drivers stated over the weekend that the No. 45 car is in its own zip code. Bubba Wallace was left pondering why he was two mph off his teammate in the opening round of qualifying. Reddick backed those theories up, being the fastest in practice on one and 10-lap averages, as well as claiming the pole. Reddick is front and center in my lineup this weekend.
In the early portion of practice on Friday, Stenhouse jumped to fourth on the scoring pylon and remained near the top for quite some time. While other drivers made mock-up qualifying runs, the No. 47 Chevrolet dropped to 17th. Stenhouse was pleased with his car and felt if he could get track position during the race that he could contend for the victory. He ended up qualifying ninth, his best starting position of the 2024 season.
FALLING: Knowing how valuable track position could be on Sunday, it stings knowing that my 36 for 36 pick Brad Keselowski will start the Brickyard 400 from the 26th spot. Both RFK cars lacked speed in qualifying, turning laps outside the top 20. Race trim looked much better, however, with Keselowski cracking the top 10 on single-lap speed and having the fourth-quickest 10-lap average. Keselowski is known to think differently from much of the field, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see the No. 6 car pull out a unique strategy to get track position.
It’s always concerning when a driver describes their practice session as having a death grip on the steering wheel and bleeding a lot of speed. Yet that sums up Ross Chastain’s weekend thus far at Indianapolis. The No. 1 car ranked 30th in practice on Friday and, despite his crew chief Phil Surgen making infinite changes overnight, he will start 28th on Sunday. It would be foolish to count out Chastain, as the No. 1 team could have an outside-the-box strategy, but the speed just isn’t there.
FEATURED MATCHUPS:
Ryan Blaney vs. Martin Truex Jr.: It’s no surprise that Blaney has been the best Team Penske car in town this weekend. The No. 12 team is on a heater, winning two of the last five races this season, most recently at a track that is akin to IMS. Truex was disappointing in practice at 20th fastest but improved to 14th in qualifying. Still leaning towards Blaney in this encounter.
Brad Keselowski vs. Alex Bowman: With a lackluster qualifying effort, Keselowski will be mired at the start of the race. But as noted earlier, strategy is going to be all over the place, and not many drivers are better at formulating a strategy plan than the 2012 Cup champion. Bowman was the slowest of the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers in qualifying but had a solid showing in practice. I’m leaving Keselowski in my lineup for the same reason I think he will finish ahead of Bowman: he thinks outside the box.
Chase Elliott vs. Tyler Reddick: These two drivers put on a show in qualifying, one-upping each other as the final two cars take time. Reddick barely clipped Elliott’s lap to win his second pole of the season. The No. 9 car made vast improvements from practice to qualifying, but Reddick has been the top guy all weekend.
Joey Logano vs. Ty Gibbs: Gibbs looks to have the faster car, but experience could pay off. Logano has experienced the closest taste of defeat twice at IMS, finishing runner-up in two of the last six Brickyard 400s. Team Penske has taken noticeable steps over the last month-and-a-half, winning four of the last seven races. It would be hard to consider Logano among the favorites for the wins, but if he can sniff the lead, he will be tough to beat.
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — NASCAR officials penalized the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota team in Saturday’s Cup Series pre-race inspection at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, forcing driver Martin Truex Jr. to start at the rear of the field and make a pass through pit road after the start of Sunday’s Brickyard 400.
Truex had qualified 14th for Sunday’s 400-miler (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio), but the team was found to have made an unapproved adjustment after clearing inspection the first time. The No. 19 team will also lose pit-stall selection for Sunday’s event, and car chief Chris Jones was ejected for the balance of the weekend. The car passed on re-inspection.
RELATED: Sunday’s starting lineup | At-track photos: Indy
Truex — in his final Cup Series season — enters the race as the series’ top points-earner without a victory, 137 points above the provisional elimination line in the playoff picture.
The No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford for driver Todd Gilliland was also penalized in Saturday inspection for failing twice. Competition officials ejected No. 38 car chief Will Norris and stripped the team of pit-stall selection for Sunday’s race.
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Not even two years ago, Ross Chastain made the Championship 4 in his first season with Trackhouse Racing. With five races remaining in the 2024 regular season, however, the No. 1 team is in real danger of missing the postseason entirely.
The damage has been a byproduct of three consecutive finishes outside the top 20 entering Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, NBC Sports App, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Before Nashville Superspeedway, Trackhouse’s home away from home, Chastain sat ninth in the regular-season championship standings.
He missed out on scoring any stage points at a track where he had never previously finished outside the top five. Yet, through strategy, No. 1 crew chief Phil Surgen got Chastain in a position to compete for the race win. In the first of what turned out to be five overtimes, Kyle Larson tagged Chastain entering Turn 1, where he backed into the outside wall and ended any hopes.
MORE: Full starting lineup for Indy | Indianapolis schedule, results
At the second rendition of the Chicago Street Course, Chastain struggled in the varying track conditions and finished 22nd. He followed that up at Pocono Raceway last weekend with an early departure, wrecking in Turn 3 on Lap 53. The 36th-place finish was his second DNF in three races.
All the while, Chris Buescher has put together a solid streak of finishes over the last month, including top-five results at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Nashville. He catapulted past Chastain in points after Pocono, moving Chastain squarely on the elimination line entering Indianapolis, 27 points ahead of Bubba Wallace.
Chastain hasn’t won since the 2023 season finale at Phoenix Raceway. And while making the playoffs would give him a fighter’s chance of moving on throughout the playoffs, he wants to see Victory Lane.
“We’re here to win,” Chastain said on Saturday at Indianapolis. “That’s what we wake up every day to do, that’s what 150-plus employees at Trackhouse and everybody with the brainpower at GM and Chevrolet — that’s why we are in our positions and doing our careers and going through our lives chasing wins. If you don’t win; this is a sport that rewards winning. So, we’re looking to get back to that.”
Chastain knows his current situation. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that if the No. 1 team doesn’t stop the bleeding or if there is a new winner over the final five races, he could miss the playoffs for the first time under the Trackhouse banner.
“It’s simple math,” he added. “If I was thinking about points, I probably wouldn’t have wrecked last week.”
If there is a new winner, the battle would move up to where Buescher currently sits, 15th on the playoff grid, 17 points ahead of Chastain. Buescher is the defending winner of three upcoming races: Richmond, Michigan and Daytona.
That success doesn’t automatically give Buescher an advantage, however.
“Just because it worked that way for us last year, it doesn’t always translate, right?” Buescher said. “I’ll say we have great tracks coming up for us, but also, it hasn’t been one of those years where we felt like we haven’t been competitive and then just really picked up in the summer like we did last year. We weren’t where we needed to be for eight or 10 races at the beginning of the year. That’s not our case this year. We’ve been very good at a lot of places. It’s just, we’ve got to close the deal.”
Chastain has never won at any of the final five tracks to wind down the regular season. He has been in contention at Darlington Raceway and always has a shot at a place like Daytona International Speedway. His immediate concern is Indianapolis after placing 30th in practice on Friday with an ill-handling race car and set to take the green flag from the 28th starting position.
“Death grip on the wheel [during practice], turning into Turns 1 and 3 for us,” Chastain explained. “Bleeding a lot of speed, heavy on the brakes and not confident turning into the corner and really loose. I know Phil Surgen did a lot of work and changed a lot of stuff. The speed will come. I figured we would be two seconds off the pace with how much I was slowing down and sliding around.”
Chastain has a best finish of 17th in three prior Brickyard 400 attempts.
SPEEDWAY, Ind.– Indianapolis Grand Prix Course or traditional oval—when it comes to speed, it’s all the same to Tyler Reddick.
Fastest in both rounds of NASCAR Cup Series qualifying on Saturday, Reddick will lead the field to green in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App).
Sunday’s race marks both the 30th anniversary of the inaugural Brickyard 400 and the first time the Cup Series will race on the 2.5-mile oval since 2020.
RELATED: Sunday’s lineup | At-track photos
In the intervening three years, NASCAR raced on the Grand Prix Course, and in 2022—the first season for the Gen 7 Cup race car—Reddick won from the pole on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course.
The last driver to make a qualifying run in the final round of Saturday’s time trials, Reddick will start from the top spot in his No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota after knocking Chase Elliott off the provisional pole by 0.044 seconds.
Despite negotiating Turn 1 in less-than-perfect fashion, Reddick covered the 2.5-mile distance in 49.460 seconds (181.932 mph) to edge the Hendrick Motorsports driver (181.803 mph) for the top starting spot.
The Busch Light Pole Award was Reddick’s second of the season and the eighth of his career.
“In Round 2, I knew what the target lap time was,” said Reddick, who ran 182.637 mph (49.278 seconds) in the opening round. “I did not feel great about my Turn 1, but the rest of the lap was really, really stout.
“It’s just really cool. I’ve been really fortunate to come here and have a lot of speed on the road course. It’s great to be back on the oval here and have that speed again. I’m excited for (Sunday). We’re going to have an awesome opportunity with pit selection, and obviously, our Toyota Camry is really fast.”
Because the field is ordered–the front row excepted–with Group A drivers on the outside row and Group B drivers on the inside, Reddick will start next to his car owner, Denny Hamlin, the Group A driver who posted the fastest final-round lap at 181.492 mph.
Elliott will start from the inside of the second row beside teammate William Byron (180.155 mph).
The remaining starting spots in the top 10 were filled, respectively, by Kyle Larson (who also started fifth in the Indianapolis 500), Ty Gibbs, Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and John Hunter Nemechek.
Stenhouse advanced to the final round of qualifying for the first time this year. Nemechek made the top 10 for the first time since the season-opening Daytona 500, where he also started 10th.
Ross Chastain, the last driver currently in a playoff-eligible position on points (27 ahead of Bubba Wallace), qualified 28th to Wallace’s 17th. There are five races left before the 16-driver playoff field is set at Darlington Raceway.
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — In 2025, reigning NASCAR Xfinity Series champion Cole Custer will get a second chance in the sport’s top division.
Custer will drive the No. 41 Ford for the Haas Factory Team in 2025 after the dissolution of Stewart-Haas Racing’s four-car NASCAR Cup Series operation at the end of the season.
The Haas Factory Team will also maintain a technical alliance with Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, with additional support from Ford Performance.
RELATED: Indy schedule | More on Haas Factory Team
Custer spent three full seasons in the Cup Series from 2020 through 2022, winning one race at Kentucky Speedway and posting one other top five in 108 starts during that period.
Returning to the Xfinity Series last season, Custer won three races, including the Championship 4 season finale at Phoenix Raceway.
The 26-year-old driver from Ladera Ranch, Calif., welcomes the chance to return to NASCAR’s top level for owner Gene Haas, who also operates the Haas F1 Team.
“To get an opportunity back in Cup was the biggest goal,” said Custer, who won last Saturday’s Xfinity race at Pocono and leads the series standings by 51 points over second-place Justin Allgaier.
“To have this opportunity to get to drive for Haas Factory Team next year is huge for me, and I think we can do some really special things with the resources we have as a team. We’re ready to get work and get some great people, and I think we’ll be able to compete with the best.”
Haas Factory Team also will continue to maintain the Xfinity Series program started under the Stewart-Haas banner. Haas Factory Team president Joe Custer, Cole’s father, says the new organization has made an offer to current driver Riley Herbst, but no deal has been finalized.
Custer also said the Haas Factory Team explored other possibilities before settling on the technical alliance with RFK.
“Along with Ford as a partner, we’re lacking no resource going into next year,” Custer said.
CLERMONT, Ind. — For the second straight season at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Christian Eckes knew he had a truck capable of contending for the TSport 200 victory. This year, his No. 19 Chevrolet handled the opposite from 2023.
The No. 19 McAnally-Hilgemann Racing team approached IRP with a different setup from last year. But for the second straight year, Eckes finished runner-up to Ty Majeski despite leading a race-high 73 circuits.
Grant Enfinger dominated the opening stage until Eckes powered by for the lead on a restart. The No. 19 truck cruised to the stage win, tying Corey Heim for the most in the series.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos: Indy weekend
Early in the race, Eckes and Heim raced hard off Turn 2. The two dominant drivers during the 2024 regular season have combined to lead nearly 51% of all laps run through the opening 15 races (1,161 of 2,281) and have typically raced respectfully, even while chasing race wins. Heim was squeezed into the fence and later blew a left-front tire. During the caution flag, he took a swipe at the No. 19 truck, brushing alongside.
Heim charged to second on fresh tires to end Stage 2 but faded to 17th during a caution-free final stage.
“It wasn’t bad until we had the damage,” Heim told NASCAR.com as he marched down to Eckes on pit road after the race. “I’m sure it wasn’t on purpose; I’ll go talk to him. We’ll be fine, it’s not a big deal.”
Eckes took blame for the incident.
“I just misjudged it down the backstretch,” Eckes said. “[Heim] was upset; he should be. I don’t know if it ruined their night or not, he got back up to second and faded that last stage. Just misjudged it on my end and I hate it for them. It’s not like it was intentional or anything like that.”
Eckes controlled the final stage until Ty Majeski got by with 56 laps remaining. Majeski, who had to serve a drive-through penalty earlier in the race for a restart violation, had a stout truck, Eckes said.
“I think the 98 was just that much better,” he said. “They were good. Kind of the same thing as last year, so congrats to them. I think we were a P2 truck with some different handling characteristics this year. Same result, same distance back. We have a little bit of homework to do to try to get better.”
The margin of victory this year slightly increased by seven-tenths of a second, but by tallying a race-high 55 points, Eckes has increased his regular season championship lead to 50 points over Heim with only the .75-mile Richmond Raceway remaining before the playoffs. While the 15 additional playoff points haven’t been secured yet, Eckes won’t let himself look ahead.
“I’m not really worried about that right now,” he added. “Just focused on going to Richmond and having a good truck.”
With the victory, Majeski punched his postseason ticket. With top five finishes, both Tyler Ankrum and Grant Enfinger locked into the 10-driver playoffs as well.
Three spots are up for grab at Richmond. Taylor Gray will enter the 250-lap regular season finale with a 48-point advantage over the elimination line. Defending series champion Ben Rhodes sits 22 points above. Tanner Gray has a five-point lead on Daniel Dye for the 10th and final spot. Despite finishing six laps down at IRP, Stewart Friesen lost just 12 points to the elimination line and will enter Richmond 16 points below 10th spot.
CLERMONT, Ind. — Ty Majeski’s victory in Friday night’s TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park wasn’t the sort of dominating performance he enjoyed last year–until the final stage of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race.
Majeski overcame a restart violation on Lap 50 that sent him to the rear of the field but rallied to defend his 2023 victory at the 0.686-mile Indiana short track. The driver of the No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford earned his first victory of the 2024 season and the fourth of his career.
RELATED: Race results | At-track photos
Majeski, who swept the stages and led 179 laps in last year’s win, was penalized for jumping the restart after the first caution of the race for Ty Dillon’s spin in Turn 3 on Lap 43. He scored no points in Stage 1, but by the time the second stage ended, Majeski had charged to third.
Sixteen laps after the restart for the final stage, Majeski took the lead for the first time, using the lapped truck of Thad Moffitt as a pick and charged past Eckes through Turns 1 and 2.
The Seymour, Wisconsin, driver led the final 56 of 200 laps and took the checkered flag, 4.129 seconds ahead of Eckes.
“It’s huge,” Majeski said. “Obviously, I made a little bit of a mistake. It was probably a little bit of a close call on that restart. I had to pony up and get it back. Obviously, when you make a mistake as a driver, you drive a little bit harder to make up for it, but these guys had my back–awesome pit stops.
“It’s been an up-and-down year. We’ve had the speed to win. Just haven’t been able to put it together, had some bad luck along the way, some of it self-inflicted. But, man, so proud of this Road Ranger group.”
Grant Enfinger finished third after leading 71 laps. Tyler Ankrum was fourth, followed by Layne Riggs, Sammy Smith, Luke Fenhaus, pole winner Rajah Caruth, Dean Thompson and Nick Sanchez.
Fenhaus’ seventh-place result was his best in three Truck Series starts.
By the time he took the checkered flag, Majeski already had clinched a playoff spot on points, leaving three berths still available in the postseason, with the Aug. 10 race at Richmond (7:30 p.m. ET, FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) left to decide the final playoff grid.
With a 20th-place finish on Friday, Tanner Gray took over the 10th and final playoff-eligible position from Daniel Dye, who came home 27th after an unscheduled pit stop on Lap 81. Dye trails Gray by five points entering the last regular-season race.
Five-time race winner Corey Heim finished 17th, a lap down, after contact from Eckes’ No. 19 Chevrolet cut his left-front tire and forced him to the pits under caution on Lap 88. Forced to use his last set of tires prematurely, Heim finished second in Stage 2 on the fresh rubber but faded in the final stage.
WATCH: Heim shows Eckes his displeasure
“I just misjudged the straightaway,” said Eckes, who led a race-high 73 laps. “He’s got every right to be mad.”
Eckes retained the series lead by 50 points over second-place Heim.
NOTE: Truck Series post-race technical inspection was completed without issue, confirming Majeski as the race winner. Nos. 43 and 46 of Daniel Dye and Thad Moffitt were each found with one unsecured lug nut. Competition officials indicated that three cars would be brought back to the NASCAR Research & Development Center for further inspection: the No. 5 Tricon Garage Toyota for Dean Thompson, No. 9 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet for Grant Enfinger and the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford for Layne Riggs.
SPEEDWAY, Ind. — In the eighth year of the current NASCAR championship format, the Regular Season Championship battle has never been this tight among a handful of teams. It makes every point that much more valuable.
Entering Sunday’s Brickyard 400 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, IMS Radio, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the top four in the regular-season standings are separated by a mere 20 points. With a mammoth 54-point outing last weekend at Pocono Raceway, Denny Hamlin’s runner-up finish chopped off 22 points to the lead, now held by Chase Elliott.
Elliott passed his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson, who has had a stranglehold of the top spot for much of the 2024 season. For No. 5 team standards, Larson had a ho-hum day at Pocono, tallying 29 points.
RELATED: Cup Series standings | At-track photos
With a pair of runner-up finishes, Tyler Reddick has erased 49 points to the lead, spanning the last four races. He enters Indianapolis third in points, 15 markers out. Not far in the distance are drivers like William Byron (57 points out) and Martin Truex Jr. (-63).
Ryan Blaney has scored a pair of wins during a summer surge and knocked nearly 50 points off in that timeframe (-76).
The battle is on.
“There’s still a lot of racing left, is kind of how I look at it,” Elliott said on Friday at IMS. “A lot can happen in that period of time. It’s going to force all of us to be really good. You’re going to have to be really solid. You’re probably going to have to win a race or two between now and the end of it to have a legitimate chance without other guys having problems, which I don’t really see four or five guys having a ton of issues between now and then.”
There is a wide variety of race tracks filling the final five races in the regular season. It begins with the return to the famed Indianapolis oval for the first time since 2020. After a two-week break, the series returns to a .75-mile short track at Richmond Raceway which will feature optional tires. Next up is the blistering fast Michigan International Speedway before wrapping up with a wild card at Daytona International Speedway and the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
Hamlin believes the remaining five races are in the No. 11 team’s wheelhouse, as 14 of his 54 career wins have come at Richmond, Michigan, Daytona and Darlington.
“We definitely have potential to win it,” Hamlin said with a laugh. “Good tracks coming up for us. It’s going to be a race against execution for ourselves. That will be the biggest thing – and your Daytona finish will play quite a big factor as well.”
Race strategy will be an essential element in determining who will wrap up the regular-season title. The No. 11 team scored the most points it has all season last weekend at Pocono. By finishing fourth and earning 14 stage points, Byron’s 47 points were tied for the third-most points he’s had during a race in 2024.
Both of Byron’s HMS teammates — who are also in the battle — believe the No. 24 team has a fighter’s chance to earn 57 points and 15 playoff points.
“[We] need to put more races together like [Pocono] and have 40- to 50-point days and you never know how far you can climb up with those kinds of days because they are hard to get,” Byron said. “This sport is really top-weighted, so if you start putting together top fives in the stages and in the race, it’s pretty impressive.”
Ultimately, it boils down to execution. Reddick leads the series with 14 top-10 finishes, and his 11.7 average finish only trails Chase Elliott (10.5). In just its fourth season as a team, 23XI Racing has a legitimate shot at winning its first regular-season title.
“It would just be cool to [win] it, honestly,” Reddick said. “To have those playoff points would be a big deal for us, only winning one race so far at Talladega. It’s a huge sense of accomplishment for the whole team, being that this is year four to the team and be contending for it is a big deal.
“Those playoff points will go a very long way. We’re in the hunt for some amount, but it’s right there for the taking so we might as well make the most of the opportunity.”
MORE: Indianapolis schedule
Previously, 2023 was the closest four drivers had been at this point in the season, though a hefty 75 points still separated those four drivers. In the first season of the Next Gen car, Elliott had a 105-point lead and cruised to the regular season title. He knows how much of a prized possession those 15 points can be, as that carried him all the way to the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway in 2022.
“There was no shot we were ever making the final four without the amount of points that we accumulated,” Elliott added. “We fortunately had a really good first half of the year.
“We just had a really good first half of the year. And then we ran really bad those last eight-and-a-half weeks. Without those points, we would have been long out of it, in my view. … So they can mean a lot. You hope that you’re running good enough that you don’t need them, is the goal that everyone has. But you know, to have eight straight weeks that nothing goes wrong, is probably not realistic.”
Elliott (2022) and Larson (2021) are the only drivers in the top five in points that have previously won a regular-season title.
